Lucas Ocampos

(Sevilla)

Little wonder the feisty Argentina winger, 26, is so ebullient at the moment. Last season, his first in Sevilla colours, he enjoyed his best goalscoring campaign since arriving in Europe eight years ago, netting 17 times for the Andalusians.

A quite brilliant mixture of speed, raw-boned presence, cute finishing and gutsy work rate, the 26-year-old is absolutely indispensable to the plans of Sevilla boss Julian Lopetegui. How highly do Sevilla rate him? His €70m release clause should offer a clue.

At Ocampos’ other European club postings (Monaco, Marseille, Genoa and Milan), he often struggled for consistency, capable of going from sensational to anonymous in the blink of an eye. Sevilla, however, clearly know how to bring out the best in him.

“He’s given us the power we badly needed,” explained Sevilla director of sport Monchi. “We’ve woken him up as a goalscorer. Our 4-3-3 system is perfect for him because he can do a lot of damage in the final 25 metres.”

Ocampos has already placed himself in Sevilla folklore after producing one of the most heroic performances in La Liga history back in July against Eibar.

Having given his side a one-goal lead, the winger was forced to go in goal for the dying minutes after an injury to goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik. From point-blank range, the stand-in stopper pulled off an outstanding reaction save to give his side the three points.

With more heroics like that, Sevilla may finally have a chance of making their mark on the Champions League, rather than returning to Europa League domination.

“We’ve woken him up as a goalscorer” Monchi, Sevilla director of sport